HUDSON VALLEY/CATSKILLS – There are 17,365 bridges in the State of New York, 12 percent of which are structurally deficient and bridges in Hudson Valley and Catskills counties average out to be about the same.

Columbia County has the largest number of deficient bridges at 18 percent. Putnam County has 14 percent, Dutchess has 13 percent, Sullivan and Greene are both at about 12 percent, while Orange is at 11.5 percent, Rockland is at a little over eight percent and Westchester is at 7.5 percent.

Transportation for America organization spokesman David Goldberg said structural deficiencies should be addressed as quickly as possible.

“Structurally deficient means they are in need of immediate attention. They need to be monitored more closely because they are starting to deteriorate in ways that could become critical,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they will fall down tomorrow, but it does mean that if they are not taken care of, then they will be weight restricted, heavy vehicles won’t be allowed to go across them. Then they usually narrow it down to maybe only one lane of traffic at a time can go across and then ultimately they close the bridge.”

The average life of a bridge is 50 years; New York’s bridges average 46 years old.

While plans are in the works to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, it did not show up on the list of deficient bridges.

Area counties, ranked by percentage of structurally deficient bridges: